


Above From Where You Are

by Birdbitch



Category: DCU
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-17
Updated: 2012-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-04 11:35:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1777594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Birdbitch/pseuds/Birdbitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He hates it when they fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Above From Where You Are

"You’re staring again."

"I don’t stare. I never stare. I just…" he sighs. "Alright. Yeah. I was totally staring. You caught me." 

"Is anything wrong?"

Jason crinkles up his nose, because it’s hard to really think sometimes if he isn’t making some kind of face, and the fact is, a lot of the time he doesn’t actually want to talk to Bruce about some things because as much as he trusts the guy, it’s still…difficult, and sometimes he feels like it’d be easier to talk to Dick about it. Only, Dick’s the problem. Well, no, Jason thinks, the problem involves Dick and Bruce and the fact is that he kind of wishes they’d act more like adults and get over themselves because as fun as Bruce is, being in the Manor was a lot more fun when he had two cohesive parental units working together to raise him. 

And you can’t just tell a guy that sort of thing, which is why Jason says, “Nope,” and jogs away from the parlor in an effort to burn off some of the excess energy that keeps building up inside his legs. He could always call Dick, ask him why he doesn’t come over that much any more and pull the naive act, but something tells him that would make his almost daily visits to Dick’s apartment far more uncomfortable and that’s—that’s the last thing Jason wants, really. 

He’s noticed how drained Bruce looks lately, and he’s noticed the fact that Dick’s got this tight line next to his mouth whenever he tries smiling, and jeez, is it really fair to put a kid in the middle of this? Jason stops his jogging when he’s at the nearest phone and dials Dick’s number.

He’d really like mom and dad to get back together. 

So in the end, when he’s sitting in the middle of the long dining table and Bruce is at one end and Dick’s at the other, he can’t help but think that he might have brought this upon himself. Bruce doesn’t look too happy, and Dick’s trying hard not to act tense, but there’s no denying that maybe this was a bad idea. Alfred had warned him and now he’s just realizing why Bruce lets Alfred boss him around. 

"May I be excused?" 

"No" and "Sure" come from opposing ends of the table, and Dick stares Bruce down.

"He’s probably got homework to deal with. He’s fine." One wrong step and Jason feels like he might start World War III. Bruce looks at Jason and there it is. It’s the missile. 

"Do you have homework?" He nods, probably too quickly and too eagerly, but Bruce sighs. "Fine. Go do it." Jason jumps up and is gone and Alfred makes haste to get out of the dining room, too, which leaves Bruce and Dick staring each other down. "He didn’t finish his dinner."

Dick snorts. “There’s always time to eat more vegetables, Bruce. I promise, he’s going to be fine.” He looks towards his own plate, and he’s been picking at the food for the past hour and a half that he’s been sitting there. “You can say yes to people sometimes, you realize?”

And so it started. Or at least, Jason thought it would, from his place eavesdropping on the conversation. He’s surprised when he doesn’t hear anything.

The truth was, Bruce had just moved to sit closer to Dick so that he wouldn’t have to shout across the room to be heard. “You haven’t even called.”

Dick closes his eyes and lets his head sink down. “Considering what happened, I didn’t think I should.”

"I—I panicked." It’s the most vulnerable Dick has ever actually heard Bruce, and it draws his face up. "You know—of all people, you know I’m not good with feelings."

"I told you I loved you and you just left." 

"Maybe I overreacted."

"That’s not fucking fair." Dick’s facing away from him again, and it’s not fair. Not to him. Bruce gets to overreact and Dick can’t do shit? It’s not working. Not like that. Not like this. It’s why he’s been staying at his apartment and avoiding Wayne Manor like the plague until finally Jason dragged him back for one of Alfred’s dinners. 

"You’re right. It’s not." Bruce stands up and tries not to hunch his shoulders. "I get it. You’re just here for Jason, because he’s just as much your son as he is mine." 

"That’s not it at all!" Dick’s quick to his feet, and he feels like he could stand to push Bruce over. "Yeah, I’m here because Jason asked, but do you even think for a second I would be here if I didn’t think that maybe you’d apologize? That maybe you’d say, hey, sorry I walked out of our bedroom while we were in the middle of sex because you said ‘I love you,’ do you think maybe we could talk about that and work something out? God, Bruce, you’re so fucking dense and full of it."

Dick turns on his heel, ready to leave, and Jason looks around for an excuse as to why he’s still outside the dining room door because he heard that, he knows what happened now, and he has the distinct feeling they didn’t want to tell him. 

"Wait." Bruce sounds like a dying man.

"Why?"

And Bruce can’t fucking say it, he can’t get the words to come out right, so instead he reaches forward and grabs Dick’s hand. He doesn’t know how he can say it, doesn’t know anything else but that Dick’s someone who reads by touch and even if Bruce can spout “I love you” in a million different languages, it will never mean as much as this can. He just doesn’t want to fuck it up. 

"Can you forgive me?"

"Jesus, Bruce—" And Jason can distinctly hear the noise of kissing, of a table being banged into, and he knows that he wants to get away before he hears anything else.


End file.
